New faces in La Liga (III): UD Las Palmas

Led by Paco Herrera off the field and former FC Barcelona Sergio Araújo on it, the Canary Islanders negotiated a dramatic play-off to win promotion

WWW.FCBARCELONA.COM

10:00PM Tuesday 23 Jun

Football

23 Jun 15

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UD Las Palmas were among the favourites to win promotion to the top flight for the first time in 14 years, and they finally achieved their target. But they did it the hard way, finishing fourth in the table and having to go through the play-off process to confirm their place. They won both ties by virtue of the away goals rule, first against Valladolid (1-1 and 0-0) and then Zaragoza (3-1 and 2-0) to make amends for letting a similar chance slip away in equally dramatic fashion twelve months earlier.

Araújo: 25 goals

One of the biggest stars of a great year for the Canary Islanders has been Sergio Araújo, the Argentinian who was at Barça B in 2012/13. He contributed 25 goals to the cause, including the decisive one against Zaragoza in the play-off. Manager Paco Herrera has produced a tight unit based around possession football coupled with the route one approach, with plenty of players with First Division experience among his squad, including Jonathan Viera, Nauzet Alemán and the veteran Juan Carlos Valerón.

The last time Las Palmas played Barça was a 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou 2001/02, with Luis Enrique scoring the Barcelona goal that day.